305. The Watchtower, the Winepress, and the Vinedressers

“Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country.” Matt. 21:33.

Here we see the way God builds His vineyard. The vineyard was the house of Israel. He placed a hedge of holy laws and commandments around this people to protect them from the lawless Gentiles. Within this wall the garden was to be cultivated so that it would bear fruit for the landowner.

He dug a winepress in it. In this press the fruit would be crushed and made into wine that could be stored for several years, so that eventually it would become a mature, clarified wine.

Next He built a tower in the garden. From there He could see the whole garden and tend to its care and well-being. Then when everything was in order, He leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country.

“Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit. And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another.

“Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them.

“Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’

“But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves. ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.”

This is what the people in the old covenant did. They stoned the servants of the Lord that were sent to get the fruit. And when the Son came, they killed Him.

This shows us something about the way people think. Is it any better in the new covenant? In the old covenant the people threw the Son out of the vineyard. In the new covenant they have put His name on a large tombstone in the vineyard, of course, but the Son Himself has been thrown outside. Therefore it is written: “Let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach.” Heb. 13:13.

The landowner still sends His servants to the vineyard today to ask the vinedressers for the fruits: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control. But, spiritually speaking, the vinedressers do now as they did then: they beat one, they stone another, and they kill the third. What does this mean? They backbite the servants of the Lord, accusing them of teaching false doctrine, of bringing people into bondage, etc., and then throw them out of their sect, denomination, or church. They do this so that the Word of the Lord will be fulfilled: “They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.” John 16:2.

Wherever people have not crucified their flesh with its lusts and desires, the flesh will express itself just as it did in the vinedressers in the old covenant.

People have no use for the winepress, and you do not hear anything spoken about it. There is no mature, clarified wine. Instead, inside the vineyard the vinedressers are very busy with dead works and begging for money for every conceivable enterprise. Jesus went about doing good, healing all those who came to Him. But today a person must have great, magnificent villas to be able to pray for the sick. The sick have to come to them. Jesus taught the disciples wherever and whenever He was with them, but today’s teachers beg for money for grand buildings in the most central and exclusive neighborhoods. In this way they provide themselves with salaried positions. They beg for the cause, but quite often the cause is themselves.

And when the landowner sends his servants to the vinedressers to ask for the fruits of the Spirit, they find quite the opposite. They meet with a party spirit, since the vineyard has been divided into many different parties, which are waging civil war against each other, so that it is impossible for the world to come to faith. They also find jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, envy, uncleanness, and adultery.

So there are good reasons why the servants of the Lord are thrown outside when they expect to find the fruits of the Spirit. Nothing except sin and grace must be mentioned there. For the vineyard is absolutely full of sin, and Christ must not be called by any other name than the “sin offering.” No one must speak about Jesus as “the way.” That would immediately be branded as a dangerous and false doctrine. No one must mention one word about Jesus being “the truth.” For if the truth came to light, all these thorns and thistles that grow in the vineyard would be in grave danger. Neither is Jesus “the life,” it is the flesh that lives and thrives there.

They are not at all interested in having a tower in the vineyard. A vigilant, praying soul in the watchtower would soon receive a message from the landowner that there were a lot of bad things going on in the vineyard. Such a soul would be regarded as critical and judging. Out of the vineyard with him!

“Jesus said to them, ‘Have you never read in the Scriptures: “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing, And it is marvelous in our eyes”?’” Matt. 21:42.

The builders in our day should ask themselves if they, too, have not rejected the cornerstone so that they are building on the sand. It will go badly for these evildoers.

Therefore Jesus says, “The kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.” Matt. 21:43.

Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking of them.